


Phone Tag

by Auggusst



Series: Heart and Mind [16]
Category: Captain America (Movies), Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Alpha Steve Rogers, Alpha Tony Stark, Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics, Angst, Arguing, Banter, Bond Sickness, Cell Phones, M/M, Mpreg, Non-Traditional Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics, Phone Calls & Telephones, Phone Conversations, Pining, Pregnant Tony Stark, Unresolved Emotional Tension, texts
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-06
Updated: 2020-08-06
Packaged: 2021-03-05 20:40:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,785
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25751485
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Auggusst/pseuds/Auggusst
Summary: Over the next few weeks, Steve and Tony play a game of phone tag.
Relationships: Steve Rogers/Tony Stark
Series: Heart and Mind [16]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1670740
Comments: 30
Kudos: 192





	Phone Tag

**Author's Note:**

> The lyrics don't really relate too much but Phone Tag is one of my favorite songs stream Chosen Jacobs for clear skin https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EWubk8nS5v8
> 
> Anyway, something a little different! I've never written a montage before but it seemed the best way to do this. Of course there were tons of more exchanges/conversations than listed here, but it would be insane to write them all out lmfao.
> 
> Next week I'll be going on a trip to meet my Steve IRL for the first time ever!!! So I won't be writing anything, but when I come back I should be ready to write the next part~

**32 WEEKS**

Tony took a deep breath, looked down at the photo on the phone’s screen. It was an okay photo of him, all things considered. It was just of him standing in front of the mirror, turned to the side to emphasize his belly. He’d kept his face out of the shot, didn’t quite want to share it yet, but could share this. He had to, even if it was difficult. He wasn’t exactly content with the changes his body was going through in general, so sharing them with Steve just added another layer of difficulty, but he’d promised a photo, and was going to deliver.

 _‘Baby steps,’_ he told himself regardless of his hesitance. _‘You can do this. It’s time to make some progress.’_

He was still angry. He would be for a long time yet, he was sure, but it wasn’t a valid excuse anymore, unfortunately. He was still sick, and he wasn’t gaining as much weight as he should, and the pain was becoming harder to endure, in more ways than one. He wanted it over with. He wanted the war to end, wanted everything to be okay again. He wasn’t sure how easy it would be to make that happen, if he could truly bring himself to commit to the truce, but he had to try. He needed Steve, and Steve needed him, and nothing would change that. He had to learn to live with it.

That didn’t stop him from frowning to himself as he hit ‘send,’ and waited patiently for a reply. He would just have to get over it.

Steve was in the middle of pulling their supplies off of the Quinjet when the message came in. He was expecting another brief, cursory, message, little more than a status report, like he’d been getting the last few weeks. Every time he pushed for a more serious conversation topic besides maybe the weather or the general state of things, Tony withdrew, dropped off the conversation or ended it entirely. Steve’s pleas for more went unheard, his wishes ungranted, for a long time. He’d learned to deal with it by now, but that didn’t make it the least bit pleasurable. He wanted to make more progress, for all of their sakes. The quicker they could get back to some type of normal, the better things would be for everyone, he was sure. It seemed Tony didn’t feel the way, with how things had been going.

But apparently Tony had changed his mind, because this time, Steve was treated to something a little different than usual, something better.

It was a direct contrast from the last photo he’d received, a few months ago, where Tony’s chest was littered with bruises, the skin yellow and purple, his pain palpable. Now, his body had changed, a lot. One of Tony’s hands was curled around his belly, large and round. The other of course was holding the phone up. Seeing the photo, seeing him like that, really made it all a reality for Steve. Thus far it had been difficult to imagine Tony like that, even when they talked about having kids in the past. But the evidence was very clearly there now, and it made Steve’s heart flutter in a way it hadn’t in so long.

The photo was captioned “Good morning.”

He read the words, and smiled.

[Good morning. Looking good.]

[Looking like a blimp.]

Steve scoffed at that. [A beautiful blimp.]

[Nice try. I don’t wanna play the flirting game. That’s what chat rooms are for.]

Well, the rejections had been worse so far. Steve wasn’t deterred. [I’m sorry, couldn’t resist. What do you want to do?]

A pause. [Call you.]

The blond’s heart skipped a beat. [I’m all ears.]

* * *

“Steve, I don’t know what to fucking tell you. That won’t work. There’s no way,” Tony sighed, rubbing his temple.

This conversation was giving him a headache. Why had he agreed to talking to Steve again? He was so goddamn _irritating_. A couple of decent conversations the last few days hadn’t changed that. “This whole plan of yours is insane. God, when’s the last time you had a plan that fucking worked?”

_“Come on, you said yourself that if anyone can cross country lines without being tracked, it’s Vision. The UN trusts him, and he’s arguably more intelligent than the rest of us. If he thinks it’ll work—“_

“I don’t care if he thinks it’ll work! I’m not sending him to Europe to have secret meet ups with Wanda. God, do you even hear yourself? If he gets caught…”

_“Just pretend you don’t know anything about it. You’ve lied to the Secretary before.”_

Tony groaned. “I can’t believe you right now. I can’t believe you even sent her off by herself to begin with. What did Nat—“

_“Nat thought it was a good idea too. If we’re in different places, it’ll be harder to nab us all. I know you said they’re expecting new tracking methods. We’re just making it a little harder for them.”_

“Still! If they find one of you, it’ll only be a matter of time before they find all of you, or before they make _me_ find all of you. I can’t emphasize enough how scary this is, Steve! I’ve been changing my security protocols almost daily at this point. I’m terrified to even _say_ some of these things out loud.”

_“I doubt they’ve got the Compound bugged. Your stuff is too good for that, FRIDAY would’ve figured it out by now. Come on, Tony. It’ll be okay! Have a little faith.”_

Tony couldn’t help but let out a growl at that, his voice raised a fraction higher. “Will it, Steve? It’ll be okay? Like everything has been so peachy keen the last few months?”

The sub-par audio quality of the phone did nothing to stifle Steve’s tired sigh. _“We’ve been over this before! I had no idea things would turn out like this, and neither did you. But we have to keep moving forward. We can’t just keep running around in circles. Something has to change. We’ve got to try to—“_

“I don’t have to try to do anything, especially when I know it won’t end up well! We’re way past you telling me what to do. I was right about everything, but it still doesn’t matter, does it? Even now you won’t listen to me!”

_“I am listening! I’m listening, and I know you’re scared! But god dammit, it’ll be fine! And if it isn’t, I’ll take the fall! I’ll take it for everyone. I’m the one who started everything. They’ll be happy to take me out of the picture.”_

“No you won’t. You won’t be taking the fall. I’ll be the one taking it, like I always do,” Tony replied bitterly.

His patience was wearing thin. It was so easy for Steve, wasn’t it? So easy to just dream up these absurd little ideas, so easy pretending that reality was anything other than what it was. The time for dreaming had long since passed, in Tony’s opinion. They were dealing with the real world.

_“Tony—“_

He didn’t want to hear it anymore. He didn’t want to argue about it anymore. He was done offering warnings only to have them ignored. “No. If you’re so adamant on doing this, on letting them do this, then fine! Let’s do this. I’ll send him. If it turns out badly, so help me God, Rogers, I’ll end you myself.”

_Click._

**34 WEEKS**

“How are you feeling?” Steve asked, scribbling lines onto the sketchbook he’d bought himself two days ago. He’d missed holding a pencil in his hands, and although he hadn’t really drawn anything yet, it offered him a little more comfort than he’d been giving himself all this time.

_“Tired. Hungry. Sick.”_

Steve knew the feeling. “But everything’s okay?” he asked.

There was a little pause on the other end of the line, and it made him nervous. _“Yeah.”_

Steve knew that tone. “Tony…”

_“I’m…I’m not really getting any better. I’m not getting worse, but it’s at a plateau. They’re worried about it. Celene is giving me daily checkups at this point.”_

The blond dropped his pencil on his paper, exhaled slowly. He hadn’t been getting any better either, despite their more frequent phone calls. They were making progress, he was sure. They’d actually had a few normal conversations in the last few days. He’d even gotten Tony to _laugh_ at one point, to truly laugh. For those few seconds, the pain in his neck seemed infinitesimal. But apparently, it wasn’t enough.

“What can we do?” he asked.

_“Maybe it’s just…maybe it’s just too early to see any progress. I’m sure it’ll be fine.”_

“There’s really nothing else we can do? I can…maybe I could…” Steve’s voice dropped off. He didn’t know quite what to say.

 _“I don’t know,”_ Tony replied. His voice was softer, more vulnerable, and Steve hated it. _“I wish…I wish you hadn’t left.”_

Steve’s throat felt a little tight. He shut his eyes then, pressed the phone even closer to his ear. “I wish that too. I wish I could be there.”

They fell into silence for a few moments, the gravity of it all weighing down on them once more.

God, it’d be so easy, if they were together, if Steve could just come home. Maybe it wouldn’t be perfect, and there would still be tension between them, things that would take a long time to be put to rest, but at least they could be _with_ each other. At least Steve could hold Tony in his arms now, and truly comfort him. At present, his voice was all he could offer, though he didn’t think it held any true comfort.

“Try not to worry too much,” Steve said eventually, though he himself worried. “We’ll figure it out.”

_“Will we?”_

“We will. Everything will be fine, you’ll see. The baby will be fine. _You’ll_ be fine. He’ll be perfect, and adorable, and wonderful. He’ll be the best of both of us, and he’ll love you so much.”

It wasn’t an accident that Steve had left himself out of the equation. He didn’t know if he’d get to come home, if he would properly be in his son’s life. Did he deserve it? Did he still deserve the love of his mate, of his child? He hoped so.

Luckily, Tony sensed his fears, and offered him a balm. _“He’ll love you too,”_ his mate replied. _“He will.”_

* * *

[Don’t talk to me today I’m not in the mood.]

[Sweetheart, I said I was sorry. Please, let me make it up to you.]

[No. I don’t want to keep doing this.]

[We don’t really have a choice. You can hate me all you want after the baby’s born, but until then we have to stick it out together.]

[You really love throwing that word around. You said ‘together’ a few years ago too, when Ultron came around, but guess who fucking left??? You did]

[Please, I know I fucked up, and I’m so damn sorry for it. I can’t even tell you how sorry.]

[Being sorry isn’t worth shit now bc you’re not here!!!]

[What do you want me to do?? Just tell me and I’ll do it!]

[Just fuck off honestly this shit isn’t working anyways. The doctors are fucking liars]

[It just takes time, you said so yourself the other day.]

[And what if it doesn’t??? What the fuck am I supposed to do??]

[We’ll get through this I promise.]

No answer.

[Tony?]

Nothing.

[Come on, please answer me. Just call me and let’s talk.]

Silence.

**36 WEEKS**

“How are you all holding up?” Tony asked, flipping idly through channels on the TV. He couldn’t seem to find something to capture his attention, anything to settle his mind, or his stomach, for a matter of fact, because he’d vomited not two hours ago. He definitely preferred the constant need to pee lately and odd food cravings to nausea. Hell, he preferred _everything_ to the nausea.

_“In a little bit of a rough spot. The jet took some hits yesterday when the Turkish government caught sight of us. We’ve been running diagnostics and trying to patch it up.”_

The brunet didn’t like the sound of that. “You haven’t been followed though?”

_“No. We shook them pretty quick and circled back around. They won’t find us.”_

“I sure hope so. Ross was pretty pissed about it on the video conference. I don’t know how much longer I can keep him in the dark. You should’ve seen the look he gave me,” Tony sighed.

_“Has he come up with any new ideas?”_

“Besides a continuous full-on manhunt, with Rhodey at the helm? No. Luckily Rhodey has the excuse of being at my side for my health, so that plan’s a no go. He keeps harping on the social media play, and I keep telling him no. I don’t want the vultures closing in on me, or the baby. I’ll make an announcement when I’m ready.”

_“That’s good, I suppose. What…what are you going to say?”_

Tony could hear the hesitance in Steve’s tone. What _was_ he going to say? How was he going to explain it all to the press? His absence from the public eye the last few months hadn’t gone unnoticed. There were tons of wild theories, ranging from kidnapping to rehab to institutionalization, but none them had hit the nail on the head so far. Tony would have to explain it all eventually, because the world would want to know, was surely watching with bated breath. He wasn’t sure yet, how he was going to break the news.

“I’ll figure it out when I get there,” Tony replied.

Part of him was hoping everything would be fixed by then, that things would somehow go back to normal, and a simple statement would suffice, though he knew that wasn’t possible. The answer, whatever it was, would be heinously complicated, he was sure. He still had some time to think about it all either way.

 _“You’re still on a lot of magazines,”_ Steve said. _“All over Europe, really. There’s a lot of speculation, especially about the two of us.”_

“There’s always been speculation. Even when we were still in the same country, there was speculation. Let them talk. They’ll keep each other entertained.”

_“It doesn’t bother you at all?”_

Tony frowned a little. “Of course it bothers me. I’ve been dealing with it my whole life. I’ve been dealing with _a lot_ of things that bother me.”

 _“…Do I bother you?”_ Steve’s voice was softer then, and it made Tony sigh.

“You do,” he replied. “You bother me more than anybody, but it’s not you so much as the things you _do_ , or the things you’ve done.”

_“I’m sorry.”_

“I know.”

* * *

_“I want this kid out of me.”_

Steve couldn’t help but let out a puff of laughter at that. He shook his head, smiled to himself. “He’ll be here before you know it. Just a few more weeks.”

 _“You don’t understand how much it sucks. I’m starting to feel like a beached whale. I can balance a plate on my stomach if I lean back.”_ Tony’s voice was full of complaint, but a little kinder, more amicable than it had been in the past. Some of the familiarity had gone back into his tone, but even so, Steve worried. It was all too easy for that to be pulled back, for Tony to get angry all over again.

The blond had to watch what he said, lest their progress fly out the window yet again. He could admit the picture Tony was painting delighted him though, made him yearn for home once more. It took him a second to think of a response.

“Better you get bigger than not big enough,” Steve settled on. “Your check-ups say you’re doing a little better, and that’s what matters most.”

Tony sighed softly. _“Yeah. The weight gain is fine, and so is the baby’s heartbeat. The fucking Bond Sickness still sucks. What got better in that aspect just got replaced by late-term pregnancy shit. You’re a lucky bastard, being a breeder.”_

“I know.”

Steve really was luckier at this point. His symptoms had pulled back a fair amount, the pain in his neck almost down to tolerable levels again, though he wasn’t in perfect health, far from it really.

Tony was in a similar boat. He was still exhausted and irritable, and sometimes he didn’t have the energy to do much but sit there, which annoyed the brunet to no end. He wanted to feel entirely better, wanted to feel normal again, but he wouldn’t have that chance for a long time. He was excited for the baby of course, but couldn’t help but feel a little bitterness settle in him, directed at Steve naturally, because he was the reason Tony was carrying in the first place.

Steve was just glad their communication efforts were finally starting to pay off a little. He didn’t know what they would have done otherwise. As long as they kept up the talking, and Tony’s stress stayed at a manageable level, most of the danger had passed in terms of his pregnancy, and that was a relief to both, even if things weren’t as they used to be, not by a long shot. The birth itself still presented plenty of danger, plenty of opportunity for misfortune, but they tried not to focus on that. Steve didn’t need his mate to admit it to know that Tony was worried about it. They both were.

 _“Well, as long as you know,”_ Tony replied with a huff.

Steve rolled his eyes, but felt a little spark of joy warm his chest, which had been missing for so, so long.

**38 WEEKS**

[I love you.]

Tony didn’t know what made him text it. He hadn’t said it since their very first phone call, and he didn’t plan on saying it today. Maybe it was something to do with the dream he had. He’d been having lots of vivid dreams lately, and though most of them were still unpleasant, bordering on nightmares, he’d been given a nice one or two, like the one last night. He dreamt of being with Steve, out in central park on a picnic, the sun shining, the park peaceful, and their son in his arms. He dreamt Steve’s scent was soft and happy, and his eyes familiar and adoring, like late at night when they were laying in bed together. He dreamt he was _happy_ , that he could be happy with _Steve_ again.

God, it’d been so long since Tony had smelled Steve’s scent like that, had felt like that. Even the clothes hanging in Steve’s closet had mostly lost their scent. Too much of his own had left its mark in the room in general over the months.

He wasn’t sleeping as much as he should, at least not during the night. It was easier taking naps during the day, in the living room. Despite his anger, he was starting to really miss Steve again, like he had at the beginning of all of this. That was supremely annoying, because there was nothing to be done about it. Even if he could bring himself to forgive Steve eventually, it wouldn’t change anything. How did he know that something like this wouldn’t happen again? How did he know that he wasn’t being foolish, if he opened his heart again? Tony _didn’t_ , and he hated not knowing.

He sighed to himself, staring down at the little flip phone. Within seconds, it vibrated.

[I love you too. I miss you so much. I’ll find a way to make all of this up to you someday.]

Tony wanted to believe that. He really did. He just didn’t know if he _could_. Steve’s promises were sincere, they always were, but that didn’t stop things from getting in the way of them. That didn’t stop him from breaking Tony’s heart and leaving in the first place.

[I hope you do.]

* * *

_“Be careful. I had to adjust the algorithm. The signal pings every six hours instead of twelve now when you’re uncloaked, so don’t linger out in the open.”_

“Roger that. We’re on our way to the next target. Ironically, we’ve been led in a huge circle. Remember that facility in Italy that caught on fire?”

_“You mean the time I saved your ass with seconds to spare and you ended up in the hospital for almost a week?”_

“Yeah. It’s not too far from there. Guess they picked up the pieces after we left, built something else.”

_“Jesus. How are there still so many of these bastards around?”_

“They’ve always been good at recruiting,” Steve sighed, brushed a hand over his face. He idly scratched his beard.

He’d been thinking of shaving it off lately, but it was still good for cover, as was the darker shade he kept his hair at now. He wondered if he’d ever have the opportunity to see himself in the mirror again as he preferred, as Tony knew him to be. They hadn’t really shared many pictures, and those that they had were entirely from Tony’s side. Steve didn’t really want his mate to see him like this.

_“Apparently. Things have been more or less quiet here, thankfully, which bodes well for Vision and Wanda. I still can’t believe you made me agree to that.”_

“It’s worked out so far, hasn’t it? In her check ins she seems a lot happier.”

_“I guess. I still don’t think it’s safe.”_

Steve shrugged a little, despite the fact that Tony couldn’t see it. “Nothing going on anymore is safe. No part of our job was _ever_ safe, really. Either way, we’re on our guard. If Ross tries to do something, if he dares to come at you, you know I’ll be there in a heartbeat.”

Tony snorted. _“Awesome. Then we can share a prison cell and I can yell at you in person.”_

The blond sighed. “Looking forward to it, sweetheart.”

_“Me too, I think. We’ll see.”_

Steve smiled a little at that. He let out an amused exhale.

_“Tell Nat I said to watch your stupid ass. I don’t want another call from Ross.”_

“Will do.”

* * *

[How did it go? Are you guys alright?]

Silence.

[You there? Don’t ignore me.]

No response.

[Steve??? Are you ok??]

Nothing.

_Ring…Ring…Ring…_

_“Your call has been forwarded to an automatic voice message system. The person at the number you are trying to reach is not available. At the tone, please record your message. When you’ve finished recording—“_

**Author's Note:**

> Two steps forward, one step back in terms of Tony's mood. Pick an emotion, buddy! Steve is just trying to get back on his good side permanently 💀 Hope you liked this! Please leave your thoughts <3


End file.
